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Blessing Twenty-Three: 
Humility 
A. IN-112ODM, HON 
A.1 Introduction to Blessing Twenty-Three 
There are many obstacles which may stand in the 
way of our acquisition of higher virtue. As already 
mentioned, virtue does not exist unpackaged, but 
comes as part and parcel of the people who are en-
dowed with them. If we are unable to see deeply 
2. 
enough into the qualities of people — if we judge 
them only on superficial appearances, we might 
overlook their deeper worth. By overlooking their 
qualities, we tend to assume they have less than us 
— and when we assume ourselves to be superioK, 
arrogance becomes our normal state of mind. 
A.2 Things which people tend to measure their 
worth in terms of 
Arrogant people tend to measure their worth in 
terms of superficial things (a completer list of twelve 
items is available at Nir .80]) such as: 
1. Their family: Some are born with a silver spoon 
in their mouths and thus tend to think, "I come 
from a large and influential family. I am de-
scended from celebrities. I can get away with 
anything I want. No-one else can even compare 
with me." Thinking such, a person tends to look 
down on everyone else. However, in reality com-
ing from an influential family does nothing to 
guarantee a bright future for oneself. It is often 
even harder than for an 'unknown person' for 
someone from a famous family to learn to stand 
on their own two feet or establish an independ-
3. 
ent reputation. It has been said that the children 
who are constantly namedropping or using their 
parent's importance as an excuse to do devious 
things will eventually come to grief. Eventually 
when they listen to no-one's advice, they will be 
beyond help; 
Their wealth: Some tend to think, "I am exceed-
ingly wealthy. There is nothing I can't afford to 
buy or do. There is no reason why I should show 
any deference to anyone else —or show anyone 
any consideration." Thinking such, a person 
tends to look down on everyone else. In reality 
wealth does nothing to guarantee a bright fu-
ture for oneself. Just by making a few slip-ups in 
their accounts today's rich can become tomor-
row's paupers and debtors. Even if you manage 
to keep your riches until the end of your life, you 
cannot take them with you when you go. If you 
don't appreciate applying your wealth for the 
cultivation of good deeds, even though you may 
be wealthy, it will not help you to escape from 
suffering in life. The richer you are, the more 
worries you will have — out of fear your riches 
will disappear or be stolen. 
The beauty of their appearance: Some people 
tend to think, "I am more attractive than anyone 
else. No-one comes close to me in beauty — my 
skin is so fine, my nose shows breeding, my eyes 
are rounded — even Miss Universe would be 
jealous." Thinking such, a person tends to look 
down on everyone else. Howevec, in reality an 
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attractive appearance does nothing to guaran-
tee a bright future for oneself. People may be 
attracted to one for the wrong reasons and even 
if you live to seventy you can be sure your beauty 
won't! 
4. Their knowledge and experience: Some people 
think, "lam so smart I have a Masters' Degree. I 
have obtained even the degrees that everyone 
says are so tough to obtain. I am cleverer than 
anyone else." Thinking such, a person tends to 
look down on everyone else. In reality academic 
knowledge does nothing to guarantee a bright 
future for oneself — because knowledge in the 
hands of a fool can lead to disaster. 
5. Their rank or position: Some tend to think, I hold 
such a high rank in the armed forces or have a 
managerial position in the civil service therefore 
everyone else should listen to me! Thinking such, 
a person tends to look down on everyone else. 
However, in reality rank does nothing to guar-
antee a bright future for oneself. Positions come 
with responsibilities and if we don't have the 
virtues requisite for fulfilling those duties, those 
ranks or titles can be our downfall — ruining 
our reputation. Moreover, there is nothing to 
guarantee security of our position forever. 
6. The number of followers: Some tend to think, "I 
have so many friends and followers that no-one 
would dare to mess with me!" Thinking such, a 
person tends to look down on everyone else. 
However, in reality the number of our friends 
and followers does nothing to ensure a bright 
future for oneself. If we don't know how to 
choose wise friends and are interested in noth-
ing more that popularity — those friends can 
become our downfall. Furthermore, even if we 
have many friends and followers in the present 
day, there is nothing to guarantee that we will 
be able to keep them for ever. 
We tend to measure our worth in terms of these six 
factors while at the back of our mind, common sense 
tells us that none of these six things can stay with 
us permanently. All of these things are imperma-
nent — and they don't really belong to us. Many 
are just conceptual phenomena which happen to 
have value in the eyes of society in this particular 
day and age. They are assets which can be of ben-
efit to us only as long as we practise a particular 
duty in the social structure. If you examine what 
we can actually call our own — you will eventu-
ally find that all we can call our own are the good 
virtues we have cultivated in our hearts. 
You should ask yourself what you actually im-
prove in yourself by looking down on the other peo-
ple. Does it make others appreciate us more? — or 
does it irritate other people so that they will never 
want to do anything to help us a second time? It is 
like a person who wants to wants to be praised for 
their wealth and who behaves like a 'big-spender' 
in spite of the fact they cannot really afford to do so 
— because of their frivolous spending they go fur-
ther and further into debt day-by-day as the price 
of their pretentiousness. 
Those who are really endowed with virtues will 
maintain their humility even when praised by oth-
ers. Thus they will not allow self-pride to cause 
them to look down on others - for fear that they 
will lose the opportunity further to improve them-
selves. 
A.3 Isn't humility just the same as respect? 
Respect and humility sometimes look as if they are 
the same virtue, but in fact there are many differ-
ences. 
Respect, as we have seen from the previous bless-
ing, has already taught us to be active in our search 
for the virtues contained in others Respect is a vir-
tue basedon the way we see others — a respectful per-
son is someone who actively looks for the good 
things about other people instead of finding fault 
with them — and who expresses respect in their 
thoughts, words and deeds. They would be a per-
son who is able to estimate peoples' worth accord-
ing to reality rather than superficial appearances. 
Humility, by contrast, is a virtue based on the way 
we see ourselves — to be a humble person is to re-
flect on one's own weaknesses, finding fault with 
oneself and to estimating one's own worth accord-
ing to reality rather than superficial appearances. 
A humble person is not someone to boast, but one 
who is able to show deference to others in order to 
maximize the amount of goodness absorbed from 
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them. A humble person does not overestimate 
themselves in terms of their good qualities in rela-
tion to others— to give ourselves the chance to learn 
from them. 
A respectful person is not necessarily a humble 
one. A person may be observant enough to see the 
good qualities exemplified by others (i.e. they have 
the quality of respect) but they might not be able 
bring themselves to show any deference to such a 
person in order to learn from them (i.e. they are not 
humble). Instead they always like to compare them-
selves to that person they respect in an unrealisti-
cally favourable light. They say to themselves, 
"even thou h you're the best at this,. the best at 
that — so 
as good as you!" If they were a little 
less arrogant, even though they may already be 
good at one thing, they will always be looking to 
improve themselves at things they have not yet 
mastered — instead of complacently sitting on their 
laurels. 
Thus, not to overestimate ourselves together with 
avoiding the arrogance of looking down on others 
(for whatever reason) is the subject to be dealt with 
by this Blessing. 
A.4 Damage from arrogance 
When we lose our humility, judging our worth in 
superficial terms and arrogantly looking down on 
others, there are three sorts of harm it will bring to 
ourselves, others and society at large: 
1. Damage to yourselfi You lose your opportunity 
to absorb goodness from others — estimating 
yourself too highly— you will tend to think you 
are already good enough and have no room for 
improvement. Looking at others you see no-one 
who matches your own talents. 
2. Damage to others: Often people's arrogance 
starts with good intentions. However their 
haughty discrimination will degenerate into be-
ing touchy about trivial things and they become 
the subject of disagreements which break up 
friendships. Like a pagoda with a narrow base 
which cannot be built very tall without toppling, 
arrogant people will not get far in teamwork. Be-
cause of the conflicts they always have, they will 
always prefer to work alone, so their life's 
achievements will never amount to much. In the 
words of the famous Buddhist master of medi-
tation, Luang Phaw Wat Paknam: 
"to look down on others, even without real-
izing it, seeing others as weaker than one 
self, speaking irreverendly to them, is like 
the gables of a house being burned by a fire 
which has spread from the lower storeys. 
Even in the smallest house fire will spread 
to the gables — and in the same way, the 
resentment of juniors can destroy the per-
son who governs them unless he is compas-
sionate and wishes only happiness to those 
around him, especially those less privileged 
than himself." 
3. Damage to society at large: Arrogant people 
have many negative consequences for society, 
namely: 
1. breakdown of law and order: Arrogant people 
don't tend to respect the rules and always 
expect to be treated as the exception to the 
rule. Society will break down if it supports 
such people. 
2. dishannony, social instability and vulnerability to 
colonization: in a society where arrogance pre-
vails, it will be difficult for any lasting har-
mony to come about. (see §132, Like sandy bro-
ken soil even after the rain). The caste system in 
India in the olden days tended to make each 
caste arrogant and even when enemies were 
at the door such as the British colonists, in-
stead of thinking to unite to defend the 
independance of their country, the superior 
castes all thought themselves too superior to 
deal with the practicality of national affairs 
— meanwhile the lower castes and the 
untouchables, although they saw the danger, 
shrugged their shoulders and reflected that if 
the worst came to the worst, it would teach 
the arrogant superior castes a good lesson. The 
castes were so busy arguing amongst them-
selves they failed to defend themselves 
against invaders who were many thousands 
of times less numerous than themselves. In 
dynastic China arrogance was often expressed 
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in terms of vengeance wrought by one family 
on another often many generations after the 
original provoking incident. In countries such 
as Thailand where humility is more well-re-
garded as a social virtue, although there may 
disa 
 
ments on a national level — even coup 
from time to time —the transitions usu-
a y take place with a minimum of bloodshed. 
In any community or society where humility 
prevails — even when a conflict should arise 
—before long people will be re-united again 
in harmony (see §D2, like a clay soil after the 
rain). These are all good reasons why we 
should cultivate humility 
B. HUMILI"Ili 8z ARROGANCE 
B.1 Definition: Humility 
The word for humility in the Pali, inivata" used in 
this blessing, actually means someone who is with-
out (' ire) air tot:tail The word is applicable to some-
one who is not inflated by their own self-impor-
tance. 
B.2. Characteristics of Humility 
If you were able to see into the mind of a humble 
person, you would see the following characteris-
tics: 
1. Freedom from false views: False views are 
ground assumptions about the nature of life and 
the world so negative or out of keeping with re-
ality that they obscure any intention to cultivate 
oneself for the better. 
2. Freedom from self-pride and self-importance: 
Self-pride is the belief that you are always supe-
rior to others. Some people who are born in the 
aristocracy don't believe that the normal man-
in the street can ever be his equal. Rich people 
look down on poor people. Town dwellers look 
down on 'country bumpkins' — in a nutshell 
people tend to be proud of themselves for the 
wrong reasons; 
3. Freedom from stubborness: The mind of a hum-
ble person is soft like greenwood (§D1) or like a 
piece of soft workable clay (§D2). Not like a dead-
wood (§D1) or like a clod of sandy soil (§D2). 
This is the result of 1 and 2 above. 
4. Workableness of mind: whether the mind is soft 
or hard will be adapted appropriately to the situ-
ation. 
B.3 Characteristics of a humble person 
A humble person tends to behave as if they are of 
no importance. Their virtues speak for themselves 
— they don't need to advertise them. It is like a 
diamond which will always be a diamond whether 
you advertise it or not. A humble person doesn't 
need to show-off their strengths — to be stubborn 
or make a fuss. Because humble people know their 
own worth according to reality, they are character-
ised by three identifying features: 
1. Humility of action: a humble person is not arro-
gant in their body language or their manners —
but at the same time they are not obsequious. 
They know how to make themselves endearing 
to others by their behaviour but at the same time 
they have confidence in themselves. It is some-
one who is always ready to mould themselves 
to the convenience of others like a piece of soft 
clay. They will be the person who can get along 
with everybody and fill the gaps in situations of 
social disharmony. They will be good-mannered 
to seniors and subordinates alike. They give 
things due respect rather than pretending that 
they are the equal of others out of their league. 
They are careful always to be consistent in their 
cultivated manners no matter what walk of so-
ciety they are dealing with. They mould them-
selves favourably to any situation that will give 
rise to virtue or reduce bad habits. This is in stark 
contrast to the body language of arrogant peo-
ple. Arrogant people will often be physically 
unable to bend their body to express humility 
(such as bowing or even lowering their head in 
deference). 
2. Humility of words: a humble person is not arro-
gant in the way they speak. Their words express 
the purity and good intention in their heart. Their 
words are soft rather than being provocative or 
boastful. They do not use their verbal skills to 
'put others down'. If they should be responsible 
for a mistake, they will be quick to say 'sorry'. If 
they receive praise from others they will be quick 
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to thank them for the complement. They don't 
make threats or tease others for making mistakes. 
If they see the good someone else has done, they 
will be quick to congratulate them for it. Because 
their thoughts are pure, the words that come 
from their mouths are only those which have 
already been well filtered and considered. The 
manner of their speech is gentle but not weak. 
They refer to people by their appropriate titles. 
Their speech is therefore endearing to all who 
hear it. This is in stark contrast to the rigid 
of arrogant people characterised by patronizing 
comments about others. They will never let oth-
ers forget how they are related to the royal fam-
ily or have a high rank in the civil service.The 
words they say are nauseating to all who hear 
them. 
3. Humility of mind: a humble person is not arro-
gant even in the way they think. They may be 
soft and gentle in their approach to all things, 
but it doesn't mean that they are weak or indeci-
sive. Never complacent about their abilities, they 
will always be looking for ways to improve on 
them. They don't assume that they are always 
right — they are open to others' opinions. They 
don't get angry if they don't get their own way, 
but look for ways to adapt their thinking to the 
needs of others (within the limits of scrupulous-
ness laid down by the Lord Buddha). This is in 
contrast to the untrained mind of an arrogant 
person which will tend to be subject to 'views' 
— especially those concerning 'self-importance' 
In any situation where they must forgo their in-
dividual whims in order better to work as a team, 
they will often find it hard to adapt. They will 
always want to be the leader of a group — even 
if they don't have the capability. 
C. OVERCOMING ARROGANCE 
C.1 Useful ways to train yourself 
Everyone has tendencies towards arrogance—even 
children. Children are known to gangfight with oth-
ers simply because they go to a rival school. A cry-
ing child will stop crying as soon as they hear the 
magic words, "Oh aren't you the bravest little boy 
in the world?" When our arrogance is engrained 
from such an early age, we need to make a special 
effort to cultivate humility in its place — and in 
practice this can be done by: 
1. Avoiding flatterers: If we have the feeling that 
we have a tendency towards arrogance or if we 
know that our own family is one of influence —
the person who has the most danger for us is the 
flatterer. Instead of succumbing to popularity 
with flatterers we need to seek out those who 
can wake us up to our delusions on a regular 
basis. Such people may be found amongst our 
teachers or elders, but they might even be re-
sponsible friends or those who have a lot of vir-
tue. Such friends will influence us to be thorough 
and detailed in assessing all that we do, never 
overlooking our habits irrespective of the situa-
tion (see Blessing Two). 
2. Being thorough and think carefully before you 
do things: You have to think things through thor-
oughly before doing them. For example, you 
should wisely reflect whether dressing so lavishly 
is appropriate to one's social position. You should 
wisely reflect whether driving such a large car is 
appropriate if your boss drives a much smaller 
one. lf, even uninintentionally, you are constantly 
doing things that might be interpreted as arro-
gant by others you will eventually find yourself 
surrounded by enemies. Be careful when you ex-
press opinions. Remember that an idea doesn't 
have to be yours to be good! You get your merit 
even if you make your good idea appear to be-
long to someone else! Don't become reckless when 
you have success. Never forget that you are never 
the best, there is always better. Think of death and 
remind yourself that there are still a lot more good 
deeds to do. Don't become enamoured by super-
ficial qualities of your personality — and try to 
remember that no matter how good you think you 
maybe, you are still subject to all the weaknesses 
of a human — whether it be old age, sickness or 
death. 
C.2 The tradition of paying respect to one's teacher 
Humility is one of the virtues heavily emphasised 
along with 'patience' and 'self-discipline' in the cer-
emony of respect for one's teacher practised in the 
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Buddhist tradition by schools and educational in-
stitutions annually throughout Thailand. At this 
ceremony called 'Wai Kra', there are three symbolic 
gifts whichhave been used traditionally in the cer-
emony to pay respect to the teacher — aubergine 
flowers, coarse grass and popped rice: 
I. The aubergine flower is a symbol of humility be-
cause each flower that will give rise to a fruit 
must bow its head towards the ground. Flowers 
which hold their head high will give no fruit and 
in the end will wither. In the same way, humility 
is quality of every student who will receive a 
teacher's knowledge to the full. Just as water 
must flow down to a lower level, the student who 
is humble will receive the most knowledge the 
most quickly. 
2. Coarse grass is a symbol of patience. This sort of 
grass can endure being parched during the dry 
season. It can endure treading and crushing by 
countless feet at the side of a footpath where 
other plants might have withered and died. In 
the same way, only the student with patience will 
endure the full duration of the course — doing 
whatever is needed to succeed in their studies. 
3. Popped rice is a symbol of self-discipline. When 
by exposure to heat upon the stove, only the rice 
which can stay in the cooking pot without jump-
ing out before time will be sweet and tender: 
ready to eat. In the same way, the one who can 
stay within the discipline they have set them-
selves in studying will succeed in their studies. 
The one who cannot stand the discipline and has 
to give-up half way can be compared to rice 
which is charred but not popped and ready to 
eat. 
These are the three qualities of the effective learner 
— humility is the first and the two others are cov-
ered in Blessings Nine and Twenty-Seven with also 
Sensitivity to Self-improvement (willingness to hear 
out criticism of oneself) at Blessing Twenty Eight. 
b. mum,' Rain% EXAMPLES 
111 Metaphor: Deadwood v. Greenwood 
Deadwood is tough and brittle. It will stand un-
yielding in the wind. If the wind gets stronger, it 
will remain unmoving. However, if there is a gale, 
it will break in two. Pushed to its limits, the dam-
age to deadwood is irreparable. No matter how 
much more water or fertilizer you give it, it will 
not come back to life. This can be compared to an 
arrogant person who will never show any defer-
ence to anyone else and thereby forgoes the oppor-
tunity to absorb virtue from others. 
By contrast, greenwood is soft and flexible. In a 
breeze it will bend and twist with the wind. If the 
wind gets strong, then it will bend double —or even 
parallel with the ground. When the wind has 
passed, then it will stand up as straight as it was 
before. If you give it a little water after the dry sea-
son, it will soon break into leaf. This can be com-
pared to a humble person who will adapt them-
selves favourably to any situation or person from 
which they can absorb virtue. 
112 Metaphor: Clay earth v. sandy earth 
Sandy soil becomes fragmented into individual 
clods in the drought of the dry season — but even 
when the rains come, although the ground is wet-
ted, the soil will still remain rigidly cracked into its 
individual clods. In a similar way when differences 
arise in a group of arrogant people, even though 
they have the opportunity to reconcile them, venge-
ful thoughts keep prevent them from coming back 
together again. 
Clay earth also becomes cracked in the dry sea-
son — however, all it takes is a shower of rain, and 
it will soon be back to normal with no remaining 
cracks. In a similar way, when differences arise in a 
group of humble people, as soon as they have the 
opportunity to reconcile themselves, they will soon 
be back to harmony again. 
113 Metaphor: the low•lying ocean 
The ocean is the lowest lying of all the waterways 
in the world — as such all the waters of the all the 
rivers of the world must flow towards it. In the same 
way the deference shown by a humble person will 
lead all the virtues exemplified in other people in 
the world to flow towards him. 
D.4 Metaphor: Half-full bottle 
A bottle that is full of water makes no noise when 
shaken like a person full of virtue who doesn't need 
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to boast about it. But a bottle that is half-full is noisy 
when shaken like a person lacking in virtue who 
feels compelled to boast about what little they have. 
D.S. Er. Humility ofSciriputta (Vucklhi Sulfa) 
A.iv.373, Dlutii.178 
Once in a monastic assembly presided over by the 
Lord Buddha, a monk accused Sariputta saying 
that in spite of being one of the two chief disciples 
of the Buddha, he was clumsy enough to have 
bumped into him. The Buddha thus asked 
Sariputta whether the accusation was true or not. 
Siriputta explained to the Buddha, "I am a per-
son who is steadfast in mindfulness — I am careful 
of everything I do. I am mindful of the body with 
just the same care that a man would carry a tray 
filled to the brim with oil if stalked by a sword-
brandishing guard threatening to cut off his head 
should he spill a single drop. I am wont to behave 
with the humility of a wiping rag, a bull with bro-
ken horns, like an untouchable child who blunders 
into the village of another caste — all of whom have 
no opportunity to indulge in their self-importance" 
Even before renouncing the world, Sariputta was 
already so gifted that he had attained no less that 
eighteen scholastic degrees before renouncing the 
world. After ordination he had attained arahant-
ship. He was the right-hand chief disciple of the 
Buddha —yet look at how humble he could be —
comparing himself to a rag, a broken-horned bull 
or an untouchable child. Sariputta had no trace of 
self-importance or arrogance. If such gifted monks 
in such an elevated position can be so humble —
then who are we to look down on others? 
D.6 Ex. Vidzidahha & Mahanama, DhA.i.346 
Although the Sakya clan were the ancestors of the 
Lord Buddha, they had one weakness— their arro-
gance about the long history of their clan led them 
to look down on everyone else. Normally they 
would not even deign to marry outside their own 
dynasty. Thus when King Pasenadi of Kosala, hop-
ing to secure good relations with the Sakyans, 
asked for the hand of a Sakyan maiden in marriage 
they had a difficult decision to make. In the end 
they succumbed to their normal arrogant ways and 
instead of sending a real princess, sent an illegiti-
mate, half-caste daughter born out of a relationship 
between Sakyan King Mahanfirna and a slave-girl. 
The child was therefore an untouchable. King 
Pasenadi didn't know, so he had a huge State mar-
riage organized. Later a prince was born called 
Prince Vidfidabha. He was very clever (because of 
hybrid vigour). He wanted to know about his ma-
ternal relatives. When he grew up and went to visit 
hismaternal city of Kapilavastu, he was still looked 
down upon by all the Sakyans and he was given 
reluctant hospitality. 
On the way home after such an inhospitable visit, 
one of Vidfidabha's generals found he had forgot-
ten something important at Kapilavastu. He re-
turned and found the Sakyans scouring the palace 
with milk. When he asked the reason why, they told 
him that Vidficlabha was an untouchable — and 
they must disinfect every place he had trodden or 
sat. When Pasenadi heard the news he removed 
both the queen and the prince from their positions 
and was going to invade Magadha. The Buddha 
prohibited him. The Buddha explained that 
whether Pasenadi attacked them or not, the 
Sakyans would receive the fruits of their own 
karma. The Buddha also advised Pasenadi to rein-
state the queen, saying that the paternal blood was 
more important than the maternal. Pasenadi fol-
lowed the Buddha's advice but Vidfidabha found 
it less easy to forgive the Sakyans. He made the 
vow that whenever he became king, he would seek 
his revenge and scour the earth of Kapilavastu with 
the blood of the Sakyans. Before long Vidfidabha 
ascended to the throne and marched against the 
Sfikyans. 
The Buddha knew what would happen and ap-
peared to Vidficlabha at a sand heap on the road 
between Sfivatthi and Kapilavastu. The Buddha 
appealed to Vidfidabha to stop and the first time, 
he turned around and returned to Savatthi. How-
ever, he couldn't forget his anger. He set out with 
his troops a second time. Again, the Buddha ap-
pealed to him to be forgiving. A second time he 
turned his troops homeward. This happened in all 
three times—but Vidficlabha was not cured of his 
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anger. The fourth timehe marched on Kapilavastu, 
the Buddha didn't stand in his way. He saw that it 
was karma that was unavoidable to the Sakyans 
because of their past arrogance. Even though many 
of the Sakyans had ordained, many had attained 
degrees of enlightenment, and all of them kept the 
Five Precepts, they still maintained their arrogance. 
The Sakyans all came out in defense of their king-
dom, but they were more scared of breaking their 
Precepts than they were of death. They shot arrows 
harmlessly into the turbans of the Kosalans, into 
flags and into the wagon wheels. They were too 
afraid to hit any living target. Vidfidabha con-
quered the Sakyans easily and had the throat of 
every Sakyan slit — washing the floor with their 
blood. He spared only the life of King Mahanfima. 
He said that he would have one last meal with his 
grandfather. Mahanama was still so arrogant, that 
he would not even eat at the same table as his un-
touchable grandson. He threw himself into the 
water and drowned himself. This is an example of 
the damage done when people are arrogant. 
D.8 Er. King Rama V. abolishes slavery 
In most countries when slavery is going to be abol-
ished, it will present major difficulties for that coun-
try. In America it caused a civil war between the 
North and the South. However, for the abolition of 
slavery in Thailand in the reign of King Rama V, 
nota single drop of blood was spilled. How did he 
manage to do it? He went to his advisors in the pal-
ace, and they advised him to use the tactic of 'get-
ting their foot in the door'. They knew that slaves 
were the most important convenience to all the most 
influential people in the country. Ninety-nine per-
cent of them would instantly refuse if the king were 
to change the Law. He sent his spies out into soci-
ety and asked them to find out what people's atti-
tude was to slaves. The king found out that many 
of the old slaves had been slaves since they were 
children. Some were sixty or seventy years old. 
Even if they were to be released, they wouldn't be 
able to support themselves any longer. What should 
they do? The king was very humble. He made a 
simple law: that any child born since his corona-
tion should be liberated from slavery. Ten years 
latei, all the old slaves had passed away. The slave 
masters looked for new slaves but the young teen-
agers were protected by the law. As that genera-
tion grew up into the next, slaves became extinct 
and not a single drop of blood was spilled — all 
because of the humility of the King. 
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Blessing Twenty-Four: 
Contentment 
A. iNTROllt i ION 
A.1 Blessing Twenty-Four's place in the order 
of things 
Before starting to discuss the twenty-fourth step on 
the stairway of Buddhist practice let us take stock 
of the place of Blessing Twenty-four in the Seventh 
Group of Blessings "Cultivating Basic Virtues" —
so we can see how they integrate. In our pursuit of 
basic virtue we started by opening up the channel 
by which we can transfer the virtues of others into 
our own heart. The respect of Blessing Twenty-Two 
helps us overcome the tendency to find fault with 
others — allowing us to target the virtues and 
strengths to learn from them. The humility of Bless-
ing Twenty-three helps us to avoid overestimating 
ourselves so that we don't look down on others —
so that we can keep the flexibility of mind neces-
sary to avoid becoming complacent about further 
improving ourselves. However there is one more 
virtue which we need to acquire for ourselves —
owing to the elusive nature of the virtues we are 
trying to cultivate for ourselves. 
Virtue is strangely unlike worldly phenomena. 
For worldly phenomena, often we have to rush and 
struggle to achieve our ambitions — often we have 
to make sure that our performance doesn't fall short 
of the target we have set for ourselves — only in 
such a way can our ambitions be fulfilled. For 
worldly phenomena, it is always with an eye on 
the outcome that we invest the necessary effort. 
However, for spiritual phenomena it is very differ-
ent — sometimes the more we hanker after results, 
the more elusive they will be. Spiritual phenomena 
are like trees where you must add the water and 
fertilizer at the roots, but the blossoms and fruit for 
which we wish for will appear in another place al-
together — high above our head! However if we 
spend the whole day gazing into the branches to 
the neglect of our watering— we will never get the 
fruits and blossoms for which we long. 
For meditation too, we have to do our daily prac-
tice without undue interest in what the results will 
be — although in the long run, we would like to 
make a breakthrough in our meditation, if we sit 
for meditation worrying about when the break-
through will be, such expectations will only impede 
our progress. 
Not only for personal virtues, but also for social 
virtues, we have to concentrate on our cultivation 
and not worry about the results. If you imagine a 
person who whines incessantly all day long, "How 
come no-one ever listens to a word I say?"— do 
you think his complaints ameliorate or worsen his 
situation? If he were instead to ask himself how he 
could make himself into the sort of person people 
want to listen to and to get down to cultivate those 
virtues instead of complaining — his effort would 
be better spent. 
In this respect the cultivation of virtue is like a 
tennis trainee who concentrates their attention on 
'technique' rather than results. Some tennis play-
ers make the mistake of worrying constantly where 
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in the opposite side of the court, the ball is going 
to land. However, instead of projecting one's anxi-
eties over the net, trainers always recommend their 
students to concentrate instead on how they hit 
the ball. If they hit the ball correctly, then the ball 
will go where it is meant to whether the player 
worries about it or not! 
Thus instead of getting caught up in expecta-
tions and comparing ourselves to others, we need 
to cultivate a virtue which will allow us the ac-
ceptance and enthusiasm to work on ourselves as 
we really are — instead of wasting our time day-
dreaming as to how we would like to be. That vir-
tue is contentment — a key aspect of our person-
ality, which apart from being important for self-
development also has a social role in allowing 
people to pool their strengths instead of compet-
ing with one another. 
A.2 Why it is necessary to know where you stand 
A.2.1 Personal Potential 
When cultivating ourselves we have a certain 
number of strengths and weaknesses — and 
through our cultivation, we hope to further the 
strengths and diminish the weaknesses. Before we 
can do that, we need to evaluate ourselves hon-
estly and accurately— we need to accept ourselves 
as we are — only then will we have the pride in 
ourselves to have the encouragement to make the 
necessary improvements. 
The strengths and influence which people bring 
to bear on improving themselves is different from 
person to person — the more strengths and influ-
ence one has, the more one will immediately be 
able to improve about oneself, others and society. 
If there are limitations to one's strengths, however, 
there will be many things at which one will fail in 
one's efforts to change— and even to try will cause 
great discouragement to your one's career of self-
development. 
To avoid such unnecessary discouragement and 
to be realistic about yourself as you stand, the Bud-
dha taught a total of six characteristics which are 
benchmarks forus to 'know ourselves', compara-
ble to a mirror which allows us to look deeply at 
the latent potential within ourselves. 
1. Inspiration [saddha]: the degree to which you 
believe in what you're doing. Believe that the 
good deeds you are doing are really having an 
effect; 
2. Self-discipline [silo]: this is the purity with which 
you are able to keep your Precepts; 
3. Experience [bahrtsrda]: this is the extent of the 
experience you have under your belt and also 
how many teachings you have heard and can 
remember; 
4. Generosity [caga]: this is the extent of your own 
generosity and the ability to let go of the things 
to which you are attached; 
5. Wisdom [pan' da]: this is the extent of the knowl-
edge, common sense and insight you possess; 
6. Quick wittedness [patibhanct]: the extent of your 
ability to answer questions on your toes with-
out having the chance to go away and prepare 
beforehand. 
One's health can also be a big factor in determining 
one's personal potential to change things. 
Try seeing how you measure in relation to the fol-
lowing virtues — note your strengths and your 
shortfalls — accept them, and then get down to 
making the necessary improvements. Thus content-
ment in the context of personal development means 
both accepting the reality of yourself and putting 
in the necessary effort to make an improvement. 
A.2.2 Social Potential 
Besides measuring yourself up personally against 
these benchmark virtues, when working for 
progress in a social context it is necessary to know 
your place in society. Sometimes to a westerner hav-
ing a 'place in society' might seem to imply encour-
agement of segregation of society into classes and 
castes— with all their hereditary rigidity. When we 
talk of a 'place in society' we mean something more 
akin to one's 'function' in society — and it should 
be hastily added that there is nothing per se to hinder 
mobility from one function in society to another. A 
realistic appreciation of one's 'place' or 'function' 
in society will prevent one from wasting one's ef-
forts being pretencious or hankering after some-
thing that one has not yet attained instead of 
'putting one's back' into the work needed to im-
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prove one's lot in society. Even if you don't like your 
place in society, you need to start by accepting 
where you stand, and in that way the enthusiasm 
and willing ichanda] will arise which will allow 
you to make a success of whatever you doing (it is 
the first of the "Foundations of Success (iddhipadaj, 
already met in Blessing Fourteen, §D.2) and thereby 
to achieve success. It is by this success, not by our 
hankering that promotion and progress will 
come.Thus contentment in the context of social 
progress means both accepting the reality of your 
place in society and putting in the necessary effort 
to make an improvement. 
B. CON LENTNILNT 
B.1 Definitions 
The Pali word from which the word 'contentment' 
in this blessing is derived, is isantuttfirwhich can 
be broken down into the syllables 'sun-' which 
means 'oneself' and cturthe which means 'happy'. 
Thus, in its entirety, the word means 'happiness 
with oneself and one's possessions' — in other 
words knowing moderation or knowing enough. 
B.2 What Contentment is not 
'Contentment' is a concept widely misunderstood. 
Some blame the idea of 'contentment' for standing 
in the way of economic progress, or claim it makes 
people too lazy to change or to improve themselves 
and their situation. They think it means being con-
tent to do nothing or being content to remain in 
isolation from others. In fact these other concepts 
already have their own words in the Pali language 
which are different from the isantosas which we re-
fer to by 'contentment' for the purposes of this Bless-
ing: 
• being contented to do nothing is called 
losajjas in Pali otherwise translated as 'lazi-
ness'; 
• being contented to be alone is called 
spauivittat in Pah, otherwise translated as 'se-
clusions; 
The Buddha never taught his disciples to be lazy, 
backsliding or to avoid work — or to be inert or 
unresponsive in a way that impedes progress and 
prosperity, as is often misunderstood. On the con-
trary, this Blessing emphasises that when each per-
son understands their own strengths and weak-
nesses and their place in society — that content-
ment will arise of its own accord. Such contentment 
will ensure that everyone will be content with what 
they have, what they receive and what is appropri-
ate to them — in such a way that the tendency to 
fight over luxuries will be reduced — and along 
with it, the jealousy and mudslinging that is often 
common between those of influence in society. 
B.3 Types of contentment 
Being happy with oneself as one stands has three 
different characteristics: 
1. contentment with what you already have 
isakenct santosa]: In the words of the Lord Bud-
dha (Dh.103): 
Salabhain riatimafifieyya 
"Never look down on your own wealth" 
this might mean being content with one's par-
ents, one's spouse and children, our work or 
one's nationality. Even if there are faults with 
these things, it is necessary to cultivate the 'pride' 
for them (note: not arrogant pride which has al-
ready been dispensed with since Blessing 
Twenty-three) that will make it seem worthwhile 
gradually to make the necessary improvements 
— rather than to attempt to solve the problem 
by stealing away someone else's (spouse, work 
etc.) There are many examples of even the hum-
blest of shoe-menders working in the gutter who 
have taken pride in their work (even though they 
might not have liked it at first) until eventually 
managing to build up a prospering shoe busi-
ness for themselves. If a person is contented with 
something, they tend to progress in that thing 
— because contentment, properly understood 
gives us the encouragement to expend effort on 
the things we come into contact with. Thus 'con-
tentment/ in our meaning of the word is some-
thing which helps to vanquish laziness. You need 
to accept how you are and use what you have to 
the very best of your ability. It is not like some 
people who think to themselves, "My father is 
only an ignorant fool, what hope have I of doing 
anything worthwhile? Why couldn't I have the 
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president for my father?" Some people blame 
their parents for being so poor, thinking, "What 
have they wasted their time doing all these years 
instead of amassing riches? Why couldn't I have 
been born with a silver spoon in my mouth?" 
Some people are not content with their national-
ity. Some people are not content with their own 
wife, thinking that other people's wives are all 
so much better. Some people wonder how their 
own children could ever have grown up with 
such a monstrous personality — without ever 
thinking to ask themselves where those children 
got their bad habits from! It's no use wasting 
your energy being discontent — instead you 
ought to be rechanneling our energy into improv-
ing the situation. 
2. contentment with what you get (santena 
santosak in the words of the Lord Buddha 
(4476): 
Yam ladclham tens tufthabbarn 
"You should be content with whatever you 
receive" 
when we are working on a task, this sort of con-
tentment means contentment with the outcome. 
Sometimes the results don't reach the targets of 
beauty, quantity or craftsmanship we had set for 
ourselves — but if we can be content, instead of 
losing sleep about it or revelling in the suffering 
of it we can go on cheerfully to make the neces-
sary adjustments. Some who lack this sort of con-
tentment will tend to assume that they are des-
tined to misfortune. One tends to revel in the 
shortcomings of one's work instead of concen-
trating on the successful part of what one has 
achieved. A fisherman lacking such contentment 
will always think that the fish that escaped his 
net are larger than the ones he has caught. In the 
end he spends his whole life eating fish he is dis-
appointed with. Thus he never enjoys his food 
to his dying day. If your parents can only afford 
to give you 1,000 or 10,000 you should be thank-
ful — it's better than being given a debt to serv-
ice. By contrast someone who is contented will 
be happy with whatever they are endowed with 
instead of always looking to see what their neigh-
bour has that might be better. If you already have 
something and you feel that it is in some way 
inappropriate, then if you decide to make some 
adjustments then that is another matter. If some-
one gives you a small piece of land to build a 
house, and you can build only a small house —
you should be thankful that you don't have to 
waste money renting for many years — but at 
the same time, you should work diligently, build-
ing up your financial position, so that you can 
expand the house to your full requirements at a 
later date. Supposing you at in business and 
you expect to make a profit of a million. You work 
as hard as you can but can manage a profit of 
only 500,000. You have to learn to live with that. 
Don't be like some people who immediately go 
into chronic depression. Instead of being upset 
about the small size of your profit, you should 
be thankful that you haven't made a loss. Some 
people take an entrance exam hoping to be ac-
cepted to study medicine — but when they are 
turned down, they commit suicide. Why can't 
they look on the bright side and find something 
else to study instead? Some people fall in love 
with a girl who shows no interest in them — so 
they hang themselves with a broken heart. Peo-
ple of such stupidity deserve no sympathy. If 
they didn't have their love returned, why 
couldn't they learn to be content with living 
alone? You can be content with what you have 
or what you are given. If you are content with 
what you are given, supposing when it comes to 
time for promotion, the boss gives it to someone 
else who is lazy, even though you have been 
working hard all year, maybe you can be con-
tent with that. However if it happens every yeaK, 
maybe you need to do something about it. 
3. contentment with what is appropriate for you 
Isamena santosaj: In practice this means that we 
don't keep in our possession things that are sur-
plus to what is appropriate for us. Supposing 
someone comes along and offers you something 
that is unbefitting of your ability or social status 
it is better to be content with what you already 
have. If someone comes along one day and of-
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fers to make you president, if you were to ac-
cept, it might just be the death of you. If you were 
just a newly ordained monk and someone came 
along and offered to make you the abbot of a 
temple, again it might not be fitting because you 
are not yet well trained enough. Monks have to 
think carefully before they accept certain offer-
ings. Supposing someone were to come along 
and offer a monk a jade Buddha or a huge Bud-
dha image made of gold — it might be better to 
refuse it otherwise you might have to be a secu-
rity guard for the rest of his life. There was once 
a tramp who bought a lottery ticket and miracu-
lously got the first prize. When the tramp heard 
the news of how much he had won, he had a 
heart attack and died. A second person went to 
collect the money, but as they had never had any 
experience of looking after the money before, 
they died in the ensuing quarrels between vari-
ous friends and relatives who thought they were 
entitled to a share of the money. You have to 
know what is appropriate or inappropriate for 
yourself. When considering what is appropriate 
for one, there are three deciding factors: 
1. whether it is appropriate to our status [yatha 
labha]: we should consider what our socio-eco-
nomic status is — are we a monastic, a house-
holdee. a senior, a subordinate, a teacher; a stu-
dent, a military general, an infantryman, a fac-
ulty head, an odd-job man — and the things 
which we use and consume ought to be appro-
priate to the socio-economic status we occupy 
instead of being pretentious things inappropri-
ate to our status. If you are a manual worker 
maybe you should be contented to furnish your 
house with plain furniture rather than the up-
holstered 'reception furniture' more fitting to the 
office of the primeminister! If you are a monk 
and someone offers a female maidservant to at-
tend to all your domestic needs — then in spite 
of their good intentions, you would be better to 
turn them down, because that would not be fit-
ting a monk —or perhaps not building a huge 
air-conditioned house you cannot afford, hav-
ing to take out loans to do it; 
2. whether it is appropriate to our potency [yatha 
bola]: If one knows and accepts the level of 
one's own potential, one will be better able to 
know what is appropriate for one. You should 
not over- or under-estimate oneself. You 
should look at oneself deeper than surface fea-
tures such as gender, size or beauty. Don't go 
comparing yourself to others out of your 
league — thinking that just because you know 
them or can speak to them, that you you de-
serve the same treatment as them. If you know 
your capabilities are only enough to take the 
responsibilities of a minister in parliament, 
don't go coveting the title of primeminister. If 
your capabilities are only enough to be a hand-
servant, don't go dreaming of being an em-
ployer — e.g. not choosing status-symbols in-
appropriate to our actual status — like a high-
backed director's chair if one is not capable 
of being a director; 
3. whether it is appropriate to our level of morality 
[yatha sarupa]: Even if something is appro-
priate to our status and potential, if it is some-
thing inappropriate to the level of Precepts we 
have set for ourselves — or if it will discredit 
us or compromise our dignity to receive it —
then we should not be contented to receive 
that kind of thing. For example, we should 
not accept goods we know to be stolen or sal-
ary earned by illegal employment— in order 
that possessions don't become more impor-
tant to us than our virtues — and so that we 
don't become a puppet to the accumulation 
of more and more possessions without end 
— if something is over or beneath one's so-
cial status, it is inappropriate to accept it or 
own it. 
C. 11APPLIVLSS & PON ER FY 
C.1 The Two sorts of happiness 
The key issue which will become obvious to us if 
we are endowed with contentment is that happi-
ness exists in (at least) two different forms (A.i.S0): 
1. Happiness dependent on external stimuli 
Isamisa sukha]: Such happiness is dependent 
on sense-pleasure coming to us via our eyes, ears, 
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nose, mouth or by our sense of touch. It also in-
cludes thoughts of desire from which superfi-
cial pleasure can also be derived. This sort of 
happiness tends to be gross because it is mixed 
up with suffering and has the following charac-
teristics: 
1. the objects of happiness can be obtained only 
as the result of considerable effort and diffi-
culty because they are rare and limited in 
quantity; 
2. the objects of happiness, once obtained have 
to be closely guarded for fear of being parted 
from them; 
3. being hindered in one's access to such objects 
of happiness, can cause aggression and acts 
of vengeance; 
2. Inner happiness Iniramisa sukhaj: Such happi-
ness is independent of external stimuli and arises 
directly from inside whenever the mind has the 
characteristics of being: 
• pure: occurs when the mind is free of defile-
ments; 
• peaceful: occurs when the mind is free from 
movement and grasping; 
• free occurs when the mind breaks free of vari-
ous encroachments, becoming light and lim-
itless; 
• radiant: occurs when the mind is suffused by 
wisdom Ipafina) — seeing things according 
to reality; 
• fulfilled: occurs when the mind has no further 
feeling of lacking or missing anything, and 
with no residual feeling of even the slightest 
loneliness — because the happiness of the 
mind is self-sufficient in itself. 
Inner happiness is true happiness—it is happiness 
that creates no conflicts of interest. It is a happiness 
that helps to diminish other problems. However, 
those who are to find inner happiness must first 
cultivate a state of mind that is peaceful and free 
from discontent. The more one can cultivate con-
tentment with relation to the happiness dependent 
on external stimuli, the easier it will become to touch 
instead upon inner happiness — as with the Bud-
dhist proverb (Dh.93): 
Tutthi sukha ya itaritarena 
"contentment with the requisites you have and 
those you receive will bring you happiness" 
C.2 Two sorts of poverty 
Those who lack happiness succumb to poverty —
and just as there are two sorts of happiness, there 
are two corresponding sorts of pauper: 
1. Material paupers: Such people suffer from lack 
of resources because they really lack the 
wherewithal' to earn enough to keep themselves 
from the poverty line. Such people are tempo-
rarily poor because if they find an appropriate 
way to earn their living, before long they will be 
able to help themselves out of poverty. 
2. Spiritual paupers: Such people suffer from lack 
of resources because they spend more than they 
earn. Their problem is not one of resources but 
one of attitude because they know no modera-
tion in their spending. Such people can be 
counted amongst the 'permanent poor' because 
even if they inherit a fortune, they will not be 
able to stay out of debt until the day they die 
(unless they learn contentment in the meantime). 
Thus 'contentment' means 'knowing moderation' 
—it is a miraculous virtue which can stop people 
from competing mercilessly with one another, stop 
extravagence, stop pretenciousness, stop wars, 
making people self-sufficient in happiness irrespec-
tive of their position in society and it can allow the 
rich to be real rnillionnaires, because in the words 
of the Buddha (Dh.57): 
Santutthi paramarp dhanam 
"Contentment is the ultimate wealth" 
CONSEQUENCES OF CONTENTMENT 
When contentment is lacking: 
• competition tends to grow up between those who 
are influential in society to the degree that one 
tries to discredit another or cut corners in amass-
ing wealth instead of applying their skills and 
influence for the public benefit. Unfortunately 
such behaviour is becoming more and more 
prevalent in our society. 
• there is no respect for ethics in the business world 
— nothing is left but flagrant profiteering with-
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out any thought of the negative repurcussions for 
others in society or the harm brought by fanning 
the flames of greed. No matter how much is 
earned, even in unscrupulous ways, it is never 
enough to satisfy the appetites of those addicted 
to materialism. Expenditures exceed spending 
power and when the businessmen concerned can-
not earn money fast enough by scrupulous meth-
ods then they will soon resort to dishonest ones 
— like puppets dancing on the strings of the de-
filements of greed in the mind. As such one goes 
through life distancing oneself further and fur-
ther from all reasonableness and moderation —
for one key reason — the lack of contentment. 
Social progress requires both contentment and the 
investment of effort. Effort needs to be regulated by 
contentment just as a powerful car needs to have a 
good set of brakes. Without contentment, efforts 
made will tend to be excessive, misplaced and vul-
nerable to risk-taking. Thus contentment is one of 
the most vital virtues contained in the Blessings. It is 
for progress at individual, family and even national 
levels. The mind of someone versed in contentment 
will always be ripe for the fruition of other higher 
virtues instilled there. Those who know contentment 
will be able to cultivate all manner of virtues with-
out risking 'burnout'. Virtue will always be culti-
vated with the most honest of intentions. When so-
ciety fails to make progress or progresses slowly, it 
is not because people are content, but on the con-
trary because of those lacking in contentment who 
constantly undermine the fair economic system. 
D.1 Danger of discontentment 
The trouble with discontent is that it develops from 
an insignificant emotions in the mind into more and 
more serious attachments — until it becomes want-
ing without end. The point of studying about the 
symptomology of greed is that you can more easily 
learn to catch yourself before the symptoms become 
too serious. You can observe your own tendencies 
by examining the symptoms of greed as they de-
velop in your own mind. This is the nature of the 
escalation of greed in the mind. In what follows we 
will examine the way in which greed progresses 
from subtle emotions to powerful and damaging 
temptation. In essence greed has many components 
and as it gets worse, more and more components 
become involved: 
• attraction (or preference) [rah]; 
• attachment (wanting it for ourselves) [iccha]; 
• losing our consideration for others Inwhicchal; 
• losing our scruples about how to earn the money 
to pay for what we want [papiccha]; 
• losing our scruples about exploiting others Robb:* 
• getting down to out and out stealing 
ladinnadana]. 
The last involves a total loss of conscience in this 
matters again undermining our discretion in the 
manner of the recklessness we studied in the most 
recent lecture. 
In conclusion, from someone who likes something, 
we become someone who is attracted to it — from 
being attracted to it, we want to own it—from want-
ing to own it, we want own it so strongly that we are 
not interested in anyone else's feelings concerning it 
— from being interested in nothing else but owning 
it, we would even do evil to own it — making peo-
ple suffer throughoutthe neighbourhood. This is how 
something seemingly benign like discontent dete-
riorates into a serious social evil. 
D.2 Objects of Discontent 
In general there are four types of things that are the 
objects of peoples discontent: 
1. greed for power: those who get elected as a mem-
ber of parliament and they are not content, want-
ing to be prime minister. 
2. greed for possessions: those who have pearls and 
want diamonds, they get diamonds and want 
rubies etc. etc.. Someone who used to live in a 
hovel and wants to get a house. When they get a 
house they want to get a mansion. When they get 
a mansion they want a palace. When they get a 
palace, they still want to be king of the world. 
3. greed for food (overeating): some people are not 
interested in power or possessions as long as they 
can get their hands on delicacies to eat. 
4. promiscuity: they have a family in every new 
town they visit. 
All of these things can be the source of discontent. 
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D.3 Acquisition with and without discontent 
If we want to have something that belongs to some-
one else, but by honest means, for example if you 
want a new Mercedes and it costs a million so you 
save up to buy it (such a feeling is not succumbing 
to discontent) — however, if you have a salary of a 
million per month, but you think to cheat someone 
else in order to get the Mercedes you want, instead 
of paying for it (discontent is at work in the mind for 
sure). Wanting to obtain things is not wrong in it-
self, if it doesn't lead us to lose our scruples about 
exploiting others. If you really want to buy a 
Mercedes and you save up your salary to buy it, that 
is not discontent. However, if you can't wait and get 
involved in corruption to boost your earnings, then 
that is submission to the discontent. And eventually 
it will lead to greed for things without end. 
E. 11.1.21%Xl IN& CON ENTNIEN IN EVER] DAY LIFE 
E.1 Earning one's living contentedly 
In Buddhism, the purpose of earning one's living is 
nothing more than to procure sufficient of the basic 
requisites of life to support one's physical needs, so 
that one can use one's time, strength and ability to 
do what is really important in life — namely to cul-
tivate the maximum possible virtues in the space of 
one's life. Buddhism has never seen the working life 
or the accrual of material assets as an end in itself. 
Thus Buddhists define the economic and social pros-
perity of a country as being in inverse proportion to 
the number of people on the poverty line rather than 
in proportion to the amount of money in the national 
treasury, in keeping with the saying: 
"the absence of poverty is a better measure of a 
nation's success than the number of wealthy 
people" 
To cultivate happiness and progress one should 
start by contentment for what one already has —
doing one's duties to the best of one's abilities with-
out hankering unduly after other things. For exam-
ple, if one has the position of 'head of department' 
at work, and would like to experience both job sat-
isfaction and progress in one's career, one should 
start with contentment for one's own position and 
doing one's duty to the best of one's ability. Apart 
from being happy at work, promotion and other 
aspects of career progress will come to us automati-
cally by the fact one is devoted and enthusiastic 
about our present position. Similarly, if one feels as 
if one's married relationship is going badly, before 
harbouring discontentand thinking that a new 
spouse would fix the problem, one should try cul-
tivating contentment with one's present spouse by 
practising one's duties (see Blessing 13) towards 
them to the best of one's ability. 
.E.2 Principles for administering one's possessions 
Principles concerning assets 
1. Acquisition: When acquiring assets, you should 
earn them in a scrupulous way without having 
to take advantage of other people to do so — not 
breaking the law, breaking with custom, break-
ing one's Precepts or breaking with virtue. 
2. Expenditure: When using your wealth, you 
should not be stingy — but you should also not 
be extravagent. You should not be reluctant to 
use what you have earned for your own welfare 
and the welfare of those closest to you — while 
at the same time practising generosity, sharing 
with others and for good works. 
3. Attitude: One should not worship money but 
should see it as a means or a tool by which one 
can live one's life. 
E3 Cultivating Contentment 
1. Daily Reflections: There is a habitual reflec-
tion contained in the Evening Chanting: We 
are of a nature to age, we have not yet gone 
beyond aging — we are of a nature to sicken, 
we have not yet gone beyond sickening — we 
are of a nature to die, we have not yet gone 
beyond dying." If we think habitually of the 
limited nature of our life it will help to re-
duce the time we waste greedily chasing af-
ter desires for things that are ultimately un-
important to our real well-being 
2. Moderation in eating: Train yourself to know 
moderation in eating. Eat to live rather than 
living to eat! If you can appreciate moderation 
in simple things, it will be easier to know con-
tentment in more complex ones. 
3. Generosity: If we often give things to others 
it will help us to overcome greed. 
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4. Keeping Eight Precepts: Keeping the Eight 
Precepts, especially the Third Precept of ab-
staining from sexual relations, will directly 
train us to overcome greed concerning the 
opposite sex. The Sixth Precept of not taking 
food in the evening will help us to overcome 
our interest in food. The Seventh Precept of 
not wearing jewelry or make-up will train us 
to be content with ourselves as we are. The 
Eighth Precept of not sleeping on a luxurious 
bed will train us not to be overcome with de-
sire for comfort. 
5. Meditate every day: When the mind becomes 
more refined, our temptation to hunger for 
power and fame will be reduced. 
If you have a good friend, never ask them for 
the thing they love the most, it may cost you 
your friendship — unless they give it to you 
without your asking. 
.E.4 Monastic Life as training in contentment 
Since ancient times, Thai society has had a way of 
training in contentment which has always been very 
efficient in instilling contentment in its people — this 
ancient training is the tradition of temporary ordina-
tion. There is a tradition in Thailand for young men 
to take temporary ordination as a monk at the age of 
around twenty-years old. Usually the ordination is 
no longer than three months, however it gives the 
ordinands the chance to experience inner happiness 
first hand, and especially the happiness that comes 
from knowing contentment. Those who ordain as 
monks are allowed to use only the bare minimum of 
material requisites, namely three robes and a bowl — 
one's living is earned by almsround —such a simple 
life without worries about material wealth easily fa-
cilitates the freedom of mind which gives rise to the 
subtle states of inner happiness—allowing those with 
the chance to ordain to understand the importance to 
their happiness of attaining contentment in life. 
F. ILLUSIAIIVF, h.,XAMPLLS 
El Metaphor: A drop can fill a glass but a river 
cannot fill the sea .. . 
Even the smallest drop of water can make the dif-
ference between whether a bottle is full is not. On 
the other hand no much water you may have you 
cannot cause the ocean to overflow. In the same way, 
even a small amount of money can make a differ-
ence to a person who knows contentment. On the 
other hand, no matter how much wealth you may 
have, for those who don't know contentment, it will 
only add to that person's discontent. 
F.2 Er. Happy beggar, discontent businessman 
There was a minister of commerce who told the 
story of two events he came across in the same day 
which had impressed him from that day to this. He 
left his home one day and passed a beggar in the 
street. In his family there was a tradition that they 
would never pass a request for help unanswered 
— how much they helped someone in need de-
pended — but they would never refuse someone 
help. To give a beggar a cent would normally be a 
lot, but that day in his pocket there was no loose 
change. He had to open up his wallet where the 
smallest note was a five-dollar bill. He gave the five 
dollar bill to the beggar. The beggar was so happy 
that he bowed down on the pavement at the feet of 
the minister. The beggar said that he had been a 
beggar since he was a child and today was the first 
time in his life he had met someone so generous as 
to give him five dollars. The beggar's eyes shone 
with appredation.The beggar's delight gave the 
minister a certain cheerfulness to start his day. 
When the minister reached the ministry, he met a 
bank manager with a pained expression of woe on 
his face. The minister asked whether the banker was 
ill. The banker said,"I am so upset I haven't slept 
for a week. I told my son to order a certain product 
that was bound to be missing from the market, right 
from early in the year. The son didn't believe me at 
first so he made his order a little late. Only the first 
order had been ahead of the competitor. For the 
second and third lots, there had been sales compe-
tition from other companies. The son should have 
had a profit of 100 million this year, but because he 
didn't believe me, he could only manage a profit of 
60 million. We have lost 40 million we could have 
had." 
The minister expressed his condolences and en-
tered his office and that day, could hardly get any 
work done, because of his musing about the ways 
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of the world — a beggar who is happy all day with 
a five dollar bill and a banker who cannot sleep 
because he only got a profit of sixty million. He sat 
and wondered whether even if he managed to 
achieve miracles as the minister of commerce 
whether anyone would be happier as the result. 
F.3 Er. Asitabhu Jataka (.1.234) 
There was a prince in the time of the Buddha who 
already had a wife, but he wasn't content with her. 
If his father wasn't vigilant he would mess around 
with the maids in the royal court. One day the king 
discovered his son's evil ways so he banished him 
into the forest. If it had been anyone else he would 
have had them executed. 
The prince escaped into the forest with his wife 
and the two of them lived in a hovel. Instead of 
realizing the peril of non-contentment with one's 
own spouse, one day the prince saw some female 
kinnarees in the forest so he left his wife in the hovel 
and ran after the kinnarees trying to catch one as a 
wife. The wife despaired and went to a hermit in 
the forest, asking him to teach her how to medi-
tate. With the determination and lack of attachments 
in the world, before long the wife was able to medi-
tate so well she was able to float in the air and flew 
away from the forest leaving the prince to his igno-
rance. The prince couldn't catch any kinnarees . 
When he returned to the hovel, even his old wife 
hadn't waited for him. So he sat in his hovel and 
cried like a drowned and helpless rat. 
Even today, there are people with the same ten-
dency. You ask them if they would like a wife. They 
think having a wife would satisfy them. But when 
married if they could have another mistress or two, 
they would certainly feel that it would add a little 
more spice to life — and if they had four or five 
mistresses — the more the merrier. They are not 
content with what they receive. Even if you were 
to give them a mountain of gold they would not be 
content. 
F.4 Er. Kumbhaghosaka DiaA.i.321ff. 
In the time of the Lord Buddha, there was an 
outbreak of an infectious disease. In the home 
of a millionaire, the two parents decided they 
were too old to escape the infection, but they 
told their son to run away as far as he could to 
save his own life. Before the son went, the fa-
ther pointed out where all the family treasure 
was buried. The son cried to think that he had 
to leave his parents to die, but all the same he 
fled despite being only 12-13 years of age at that 
time. In ten years time he returned to his home-
town. The disease had long subsided. He 
thought of digging up the treasure, but he de-
cided that it was not yet appropriate for him to 
obtain a fortune. He thought that if anyone saw 
him with a fortune, they would think that he 
had stolen it, so he might be caught by the po-
lice. He also reflected that he had nowhere to 
store the fortune even if he did get it — because 
he still had no house of his own — so to have 
the fortune would put his own life at risk. 
Therefore he waited and took a job working 
as a guard in the house of a wealthy family, 
ringing the bell to tell the family the time of 
day. One day King Bimbasara heard the sound 
of the man ringing the bell in the morning and 
could tell at once that the person ringing the 
bell was no ordinary person but a rich man. The 
king sent a courtier to see the man and she came 
back to the king to report that the guard ring-
ing the bell was no rich man, but just a guard 
employed in a rich household. The king would 
not believe her therefore the courtier found 
ways of finding out the background of the man 
until she found out that he was the owner of a 
fortune. 
King Bimbasira thus summoned the man cu-
rious to find out why he lived like a poor man 
even though he was heir to a treasure. The man 
told the king the reason why he was waiting 
for the appropriate time to take advantage of 
his fortune. The king told him that the time had 
now come to dig up the treasure. The young 
man dug up his fortune and the king made him 
the treasurer of the kingdom as the result of his 
wisdom and patience in the use of his savings. 
The wisdom of this man has a useful message 
especially for ladies who are tempted to wear 
expensive jewelry beyond their means and even 
for ladies who dress provocatively. 
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F.5 Er. Pancuposatha Jataka (J.490) 
There was once a hermit that had a pet bear. One 
day the bear was bored of the food it was given so 
it decided to go into the town to look for delicacies 
to eat. The bear disappeared into town, but before 
it could get its paws on anything to eat, the town 
dwellers chased the bear away with arrows and 
spears. The bear returned covered in blood to the 
dwelling of the hermit and had no more discon-
tent. The bear learned from its hard lesson, and de-
cided to take the Eight Precepts and would no 
longer take an evening meal even if the hermit of-
fered it food at that time. When the hermit asked 
why the bear didn't accept food, the bear said it 
had decided to keep Eight Precepts to learn to be 
content with the food it was given. 
The same Jfitalca told the story of a past life of 
Devadatta when he was born as a greedy fox. The 
fox found the carcass of an elephant recently died 
and licked its lips. It made its way inside the body 
of the elephant through one of the openings and 
started to eat the soft inner organs of the elephant. 
When the fox was full it fell asleep where it lay, in-
side the elephant, for a day or two. In the sun, the 
carcass of the elephant started to dry out and the 
bodily openings all closed trapping the fox inside. 
The fox was trapped there for seven days until the 
fox was thin. Only then did it rain and when the 
bodily openings loosened, the fox was able to es-
cape with its life, but it was so shocked by the whole 
experience that it wanted to overcome its attach-
ment to food and so kept the Eight Precepts from 
that day forth. 
EC Ex. Suratwaharosa Jataka(J.136) 
There was a greedy bhikkhutti who was the origin 
for the Vinaya rule for bhikkhuois not being 
allowed to eat garlic. The bhikkhuoi called 
Tulimanda loved to eat garlic and one day she 
became acquainted with a garlic farmer. The farmer 
thought that a bhikkhuoi should know moderation 
in eating so he pointed to the garlic field saying, 
whenever you want any garlic, just go to the field 
caretaker and tell him I gave you permission to help 
yourself. The bizikkhutti picked cartloads of garlic 
and the neighbours gossipped and spread it about 
that the bhikkhuni was shameless. The farmer 
himself didn't know what to say. 
The news reached the Buddha so the Buddha 
made the simple rule that bhikkhuttis may no 
longer eat garlic. The Buddha looked at the past 
lives of the bhikkhuoi and caused pictures of those 
previous lives to manifest themselves for the 
bhikkhuoi and others to see. 
Tulimandi had been a female Brahmin with a 
husband and a daughter. The Brahmin died but 
because of not understanding the working of merit 
had done both good and bad deeds. The Brahmin 
was born as a golden goose. The goose was able to 
recognize his former wife and daughter in their 
poverty and shed its golden feathers for them to 
ameliorate their poverty, feather by feather. In that 
lifetime, Tulananda had also been greedy. She 
wanted more than just a few feathers and a few days 
later plucked the goose bare and shut the goose 
away in a coop. From that day forth, the goose could 
no longer produce golden feathers. With its new 
conventional plumage the goose flew away and did 
not return. The mother and daughter thus returned 
to poverty and starvation. 
A clear message from such stories is that if you 
are going to help someone, you have to observe first 
whether they know moderation first or not. 
E7 Ex. A stray dog grown fat 
If you notice the habits of a mangy, starved dog —
if you give it a bowlful of offal it will be glad of 
even this and will finish the whole plate. However, 
if you feed it offal for seven days, if after a week 
there is no meat in its bowl it will start to refuse 
food. If you continue to give it better food, in no 
time it will be climbing on the table competing with 
the master for the food on his plate. If you meet 
this sort of stray dog, you have no alternative but 
to chase it away, because it is a dog of the sort that 
never knows enough. 
Not only animals are like this — even some peo-
ple, although they may not be at all poor, never 
know enough of a good thing. The richer they get, 
the richer they want to be. Even when they are quite 
comfortable in their own lifestyle, they will still go 
out of their way to take advantage of others to 
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widen their own profit margin. There have been 
such people in every period of history and they 
have brought only suffering and degradation to 
society in all cases. The illness such people suffer 
from is that they 'never know enough' of something 
or to be more specific, they lack contentment. 
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